Covid: Biden promises vaccines for all US adults by end of May
2021-03-03 16:29:45
The US will have enough coronavirus vaccines for every adult by the end of May, President Joe Biden has said.
This will be two months earlier than previously expected, but Mr Biden said the vaccination drive must be extended, too, and people convinced to take it.
And he warned people to "stay vigilant" because "this fight is far from over", with new variants a major concern.
His caution is at odds with some states, which are relaxing restrictions in order to boost their economies.
Mr Biden's new timeline does not mean all adults in the US will be vaccinated by the end of May, as the jabs will take longer to administer.
Although there has been a sharp fall in confirmed cases since the start of the year - the figure of 68,000 a day now is well down on the 8 January peak of 300,000 - that drop has levelled off over the past week, fuelling fears of another wave.
More than 76 million vaccination doses have been administered - covering 15.3% of the population and the US remains on track to meet Mr Biden's pledge of delivering 100 million Covid-19 vaccine doses in his first 100 days in office.
Some 1.74 million doses are being administered every day.